


if there's a bright center to the universe

by orphan_account



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Luke Drives An Old Blue Truck, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bodhi is a military brat who moves to a small town, But that part and general angst won't be the focus, Fluff, Fluff is what we're here for, I don't know anything about the midwest really, Kylo and Hux are bullies obvi, Luke is an all-american boy who wants to be an astronaut, M/M, Not Beta Read, Possible Eventual Smut, Racism, Racist Language, Sweaty!boys, character ages are going to be all over the place, not even proofread honestly, roguejedi, small town! au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-17
Updated: 2017-02-23
Packaged: 2018-09-25 03:10:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9800228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Bodhi didn't know what he was expecting when he left the city to move to a small midwest town, but it certainly wasn't falling in love with Luke Skywalker.(AKA the high school fluff fic that takes place in the Luke Drives An Old Blue Truck universe)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Well I'm giving in to my urges/peer pressure and writing a Roguejedi fic that's not just a oneshot. Let's see where this goes...

Bodhi didn’t enjoy moving around so much, but he had long ago accepted it as a fact of his life, right alongside with his mother constantly nagging him about his hair being too long. He had grown accustomed to his life being in a constant state of flux: the new schools every few years, new cities to explore, new “friends” that came and went so fast that their faces and names began to blur together. He was sure his internal monologue sounded like a broken record like that of every other military brat in America. His dad being in the air force came with many perks, like a stable income so that his mom didn’t have to work, but the constant moving was not one of them. It was a shame he was having to move again so soon, he thought. He had liked Cincinnati.

This move, however, wasn’t because of his dad. No wait, that wasn’t right, it _was_ because of his dad, but it had nothing to do with the air force. The gravity of it all still hadn’t sunk in for him: the fact that his father had announced just _out of the blue_ one day that he had had his fill of their family, that he wanted to leave to go find something better. He hadn’t used those exact terms, but the meaning had been the same. Bodhi remembered how he had watched his mother bargain and plead and how he had felt a mixture of heartbreak and repulsion at the whole thing. And the next thing he knew they were packing their things and leaving, his mother insisting that if his father was leaving to find a fresh start, they could have one too. She had never been a fan of the city. Their apartment had been about forty minutes outside of Dayton, where his father commuted to work at the Wright-Patterson Base. Bodhi, on the other hand, had loved the city. He loved the blend of cultures, the eccentric food trucks on every corner, and taking walks alone in the parks at night while listening to music in his headphones.

Now they were moving to a small town three hours outside the city, and Bodhi was trying not to be too bitter about it. Honestly, he was. So he pushed aside any bad feelings as he had packed away his things and gotten one last good look at the city. He tried not to feel too miserable as they drove through cornfield, after cornfield, after cornfield on their way to their new home. Now, walking to class on his first day starting at his new high school, he forced himself into a positive mindset, despite the fact that he had yet to pass another student in the hallway who wasn’t white.

He walked into the small, already mostly-full classroom and took a seat next to the only other guy who, while not as dark as Bodhi, stood apart from the rest from his milk-tone classmates.

The other boy quickly leaned over.

“You’re new here.” he stated matter-of-factly.

“Yeah, just moved here from Cincinnati. My name’s Bodhi.” he said, trying to be friendly.

“Cassian.” replied the other boy, reaching out his hand to shake Bodhi’s. He had dark hair and an impressive amount of scruff for a high school senior.

Bodhi was trying to think of what to say next when a voice from above him spoke “Look’s like Cassian found a new friend. Maybe the two of you can open up a taco cart together.”

Cassian snarled, and Bodhi turned around to see a tall, dark-haired boy and his ginger companion standing side by side, looming above him.

“I’m Pakistani.” Bodhi said plainly.

“Well then I guess it’s a good thing we don’t have any Jewish kids in this class.” said the red-haired boy.

“You’re thinking of Palestine, you degenerate.” Cassian bit back.

“Easy there, Cassian. Get into a fight again and they’ll kick you out for sure this time.” said the taller, dark-haired one.

“It would be worth it just to see your Nazi-ass bleed.” Cassian countered, not backing down.

Luckily before the situation could escalate any further, a tall, short-haired woman who appeared to be the teacher walked in the door. The two boys threw Cassian one final sneer and then walked off to find seats on the other side of the room.

“Don’t pay any attention to Kylo and Hux,” Cassian leaned over and told him, “racists come a dime a dozen in this town, but those two are a unique combination of bigoted and boring. They would like to think that they run this place, but I’ve knocked both of their asses into the dirt on several occasions.” He smirked slightly, as if remembering those fights fondly.

The teacher’s voice from the front of the classroom shifted Bodhi’s attention.

“Good afternoon, everyone. You’ve probably noticed by now that you have a new classmate joining your ranks today. This is Bodhi Rook and he’s going to be joining us from now on in this class and many of your others I’m sure.”

His new classmates were all looking at him, a sea of unreadable expressions. The teacher turned to him.

“Bodhi, I’m Mrs. Mothma and I teach AP United States Government and Politics. Now, it’s a few months into the school year, but you shouldn’t have too much difficulty jumping into the course at this point. Just stay and talk with me after class and I’ll help you get started.”

Bodhi nodded.

“Alright,” Mrs. Mothma said, turning back to the whiteboard to begin her lesson.

They were ten minutes into a recap discussion of the previous class when the door at the back of the room burst open. Bodhi turned around to see a blonde boy walk quickly past him and seat himself in the front of the class.

“Sorry Mrs. Mothma,” the boy said breathlessly, “I had trouble with my truck this morning. The dang thing wouldn’t start no matter what I did so eventually I just had to settle for taking my old bike.”

“Maybe it’s time you gave up on that piece of junk, Skywalker.” Cassian said, a teasing tone in his voice.

The other boy whipped around, looking affronted at Cassian, then, upon catching sight of bodhi, cast him a curious look.

“That’s enough, boys.” said Mrs. Mothma, “It’s alright Luke, we were just getting started. Now if everyone would please take out your books—”

The rest of the class period passed by uneventfully, which the exception of the boy who had been late, Luke, turning around several times to glance curiously at Bodhi. When class was over, Bodhi hung back to talk with Mrs. Mothma as instructed. She gave him a brief rundown of the course and the materials he would need, and then it was time for him to go to his next class.

Bodhi was happy to realize that he had four other classes with Cassian, who he was starting to like already. He sat with him when he had the chance, and Cassian introduced him to his other friends, a girl named Jyn and a tall guy that he just called “Kay.” None of them were in Mrs. Organa's class with him, but there was a diverse trio of freshmen, Rey, Poe, and Finn, who welcomed him warmly to sit with them. Unfortunately, he also had more classes with Kylo and Hux. They didn’t approach him again following Mothma’s class, but more than once he caught the pair casting dark looks in his direction.

Bodhi had stayed behind a few minutes after class in stats to get a copy of the syllabus from Mr. Malbus, and was walking on his way to the parking lot when he was suddenly cornered outside the cafeteria building.

“Did you lose your new friend Andor?” taunted Kylo as Bodhi staggered back against the wall. The other boy, Hux, simply stood next to his friend and sneered disdainfully.

Bodhi wasn’t inexperienced when it came to fights, or when it came to racist punks causing trouble for him. He had dealt with his fair share of that sort of thing no matter where he lived, unfortunately. He wasn’t naturally inclined to violence, but he also wasn’t the type of guy who was about to show weakness to a couple of assholes. He didn’t go seeking confrontation, but whenever he had been backed into a corner, he chose to fight his way out. More often than not, and lucky for him, it would be time for him to move again before petty squabbles escalated to anything more serious.

Today, however, he was in no mood for fighting. He had had a good first day overall, he felt, and didn’t want to hurt his reputation with this new school already by getting into it with a couple of douchebags.

“I don’t think we had the chance to get properly acquainted earlier,” Kylo continued threateningly.

“You two make an odd welcoming committee.” Bodhi quipped back, unable to stop himself from being mouthy, as always.

“We don’t respond well to disrespect.” said Hux, heated.

Bodhi chuckled. “What the fuck? Do you guys think you’re the mob or something? I’m supposed to respect two acne-faced losers like you, or what?”

The next thing he knew Kylo was pinning him by his shoulders against the wall.

“You don’t want to make an enemy of me!” He shouted.

Hux was red in the face now and pulling open his jacket to reveal _holy fuck was that a knife._ Bodhi barely had a moment to think about how to act fast to get away before another figure appeared seemingly out of nowhere and threw both arms around the two boys’ shoulders.

 _Cassian?_ Bodhi wondered in his immediate confused reaction, but then he took note of the blonde hair and realized it was the same boy who had been late to Mothma’s class that morning, Luke.

“Is there something I’m missing out on here?” Luke piped cheerfully, a wide smile on his face, still with his arms slung around Kylo and Hux’s shoulders. Their expressions could not have been more opposite his.

“If you’re making friends with the new guy, I want in.” Luke continued brightly, “Hey, let’s all go to Old Ben’s for a bite and we can get to know each other better there!”

“Fuck off, Luke” scoffed Kylo, shoving himself away from the blonde boy. Hux disentangled himself as well and the two backed away.

“Alright guys, but that’s your loss!” said Luke.

Kylo and Hux shot Luke final death glares as they sulked off towards the parking lot. As soon as they were a safe distance away, Luke’s smile weakened.

“Sorry about those guys. They didn’t hurt you, did they?” he asked Bodhi, blue eyes full of concern.

“No, they were just trying to scare me I think.” replied Bodhi.

“Ugh. They can be such assholes sometimes. And by sometimes I mean all the time.” Luke added with a laugh. “Luckily they don’t bother me.”

“Why not?” asked Bodhi, before realizing that the question was perhaps too nosy to ask a guy he had met only a few seconds earlier.

Luke shrugged. “I guess they got tired of me never giving them the reaction they were looking for? That little stunt I pulled a few moments ago always pisses them off. It’s more fun when I’ve got Leia and Han around though. Han’s even better at making them uncomfortable. One time he tried to pull Hux into a waltz with him in the hallway, and I was honestly scared Hux was going to murder him.” Luke laughed again and Bodhi couldn’t help but notice what a nice-sounding laugh it was, especially paired with the playful shine in his eyes.

“Oh, I just realized I haven’t even introduced myself! I’m Luke” he said, smiling good-naturedly.

“Bodhi.” He gave a small smile in return.

“Nice to meet you, Bodhi.” said Luke “You know, since you’re new here, you really should try Old Ben’s when you get a chance. They’ve got the best burgers in town. Hey, maybe we could even go together sometime! But right now I need to get home so I can work on fixing my truck before it gets dark, since I don’t want to get stuck riding my bike again to school. See you tomorrow?” He spoke quickly and his smile was unrelenting, and Bodhi could only smile and nod back as Luke clapped him on the shoulder before turning to walk briskly in the direction of the bike rack.

Bodhi watched as the blonde boy got on his bike and began to ride off towards to road leading from the school. It was only once he was gone that he noticed the backpack sitting on the ground a few feet away. It was faded galaxy-print and Bodhi assumed that Luke must have set it down before tackling Kylo and Hux and then forgotten about it.

  
_Well, shit._ Thought Bodhi. _I don’t even know where this guy lives._


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one that feels like a bad porn opening scene.

Bodhi was just about to take the backpack home with him and plan on giving it to Luke in first period tomorrow when Cassian and Jyn rounded the corner.

“Hey Bodhi! Good to see you again.” said Jyn.

“How did the rest of your first day go?” asked Cassian.

“Pretty well, overall.” Bodhi replied “Other than running into Kylo and Hux again just a few minutes ago.”

Jyn groaned and Cassian looked concerned.

“Did they try the whole ‘intimidate the new guy’ thing with you? Please tell me those assholes didn’t do anything too bad.” he said.

“Yeah, intimidation definitely seemed to be their goal.” Bodhi huffed, “luckily that guy from APUSH, Luke, showed up and helped me get rid of them before it turned into a whole thing.” Bodhi told Cassian.

Cassian quirked an eyebrow. “Luke Skywalker?”

"Yeah, he seems like a nice enough guy. Do you guys like him?” asked Bodhi.

Jyn let out a small laugh. “Yeah we like him. You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone in this town, with the exception of Kylo and Hux I guess, who don’t fawn over Mr. Sunshine Skywalker.”

“Yeah?” Bodhi asked. He didn’t want to sound too nosy, but was nevertheless curious about the guy who had just shown up and helped him get rid of two bullies, like he’d known Bodhi his whole life and was just helping out a friend. “What’s so great about him?”

Cassian smirked. “Luke’s one of those guys who’s kinda impossible not to like, which almost makes you want to hate him.” He laughed. “But besides being nice, Luke also has old roots in this community. That’s the real reason people like Kylo and Hux don’t mess with him. His dad is something of a local legend, and his aunt and uncle’s farm is a pillar of the community. On top of that, his sister Leia spends so much time at Mayor Organa and his wife’s house that she’s practically like their adopted daughter, and no one wants to get on her bad side either. When Luke came out last year, she walked around school with him looking like she was just daring anyone to say something rude.”

"Huh.” Bodhi mused, somewhat surprised by that last bit of information. “I guess it’ll take me some time to get used to the small town dynamics here. Back in Cincinnati the only factor to being popular was whether or not you were rich or good at playing a sport.”

He glanced down and suddenly remembered the backpack sitting at his feet.

"You guys don’t happen to know where Luke lives by any chance, do you? He ran off and forgot his backpack. I was gonna just give it to him tomorrow, but if I could get it back to him tonight then I’d be returning a favor for his help today.”

“‘Course we do,” said Jyn, “Everyone knows where he lives. His aunt and uncle’s farm is one of the oldest places in this town. It’s right down the road from here, about a ten minute drive. Cassian and I were gonna go study together at my place, but we can drop you by there on our way if you want.”

"Thanks, but that’s alright. I’ve got a car I can take.” Bodhi replied.

“Ok, well in that case all you have to do is take a left out of the parking lot and follow the main road down until you see a big sign that says ‘Skywalker Ranch’. It’s impossible to miss.” said Jyn.

“Thanks, guys, I’ll probably head there right now before it gets too late.” said Bodhi. 

“Alright, catch you later Bodhi!” said Jyn.  
“See you tomorrow!” Cassian added as the two of they walked towards the other side of the parking lot.

Bodhi walked towards his own car, a black Camry he got when he was seventeen, and jumped in.

Just like Jyn had said, Skywalker Ranch was impossible to miss. Bodhi drove past the sign and down the long dirt drive towards the small, white ranch-style house surrounded by fields of corn that seemed to stretch endlessly into the horizon. He pulled up near to an old Ford pickup that he guessed must be Luke’s from the conversation that took place in Mrs. Mothma’s class that morning. He stepped out of his car, planning to knock on the front door, when something small and furry suddenly launched into him, almost knocking him to the ground.

"Fuck.” he gasped in surprise as the dog continued to jump up against his legs. It was the size of an average terrier with scruffy grey and white fur. It’s tail wagged rapidly and it was literally quivering in excitement as it continued to try to get to Bodhi’s face.

“Artoo, get off of him!” called a voice.

Bodhi recognized it as Luke’s, but, looking around, was unable to see him anywhere nearby.

“Sorry about that,” said the voice again, and Bodhi looked down to see a pair of legs in jeans sticking out from the bottom of the truck that he hadn’t noticed earlier. Luke pushed himself out from under the Ford and got to his feet.

Bodhi hoped the other boy didn’t notice his eyes grow wide as he fought the reflex to curse under his breath.  
Luke was wearing nothing but a pair blue jeans, which were worn-out and hung low on his hips. His bare chest was tone and shone with sweat in the afternoon sunshine, and his face was flushed and glistening. As if this wasn’t enough, he reached one arm up to run a hand through his blonde hair, which was messy and slicked down with sweat to his forehead in some places.  
Bodhi felt the urge to immediately get back in his car and drive away before the situation could get any worse. Sure, when he met Luke at school that day he had noticed he was cute, but standing here now, shirtless and tan with his sandy-blonde hair a gorgeous mess, Bodhi realized with horror that Luke was _hot_. Like, All-American Boy, Magazine Cover hot. And there he was, standing and smiling at Bodhi good-naturedly _like being shirtless and that attractive was no big deal at all._

“Hey, Bodhi. Sorry again about Artoo, he gets excited to meet new people.” Luke reached down to ruffle the top of the small dog’s head, smiling. The dog yipped happily and allowed Luke to pet him for a moment before running back to circle Bodhi’s heels again. Bodhi dropped to a crouch to greet the dog, who took that as an open invitation to jump right into Bodhi’s lap.

“Artoo?” Bodhi asked, laughing as the dog licked the stubble on his cheeks, “that’s an interesting name for a dog.”

“Yeah, I named him after a robot from this movie from the 70s. It’s this campy sci-fi film that not too many people know about, but my uncle Owen told me it was one of my dad’s favorites when he was my age.”

"Sounds cool.” Bodhi said, unseating Artoo from his lap as he got to his feet again. He took the shrugged the bag from off of his shoulder and held it out to Luke.

“You left your backpack outside the cafeteria when you left today. I figured I could drop it off to you on my way home, in case you needed to do homework or something. Jyn and Cassian told me where you lived, hope that’s not weird or anything.” he laughed lightly, feeling a little awkward.

"Oh thanks!” Luke said enthusiastically, “I felt like I had forgotten something but I couldn’t figure out what! That would have really sucked for me when I go to do my Trig homework tonight. Thank you _sooo_ much for bringing it by.”

“Don’t mention it, I guess we’re even now.” said Bodhi.

“Yeah, guess so.” Luke was smiling at him and the brightness of it felt almost oppressive to Bodhi. He smiled back awkwardly, unsure if he should keep talking or if it was his cue to leave.

“Oh, hey!” Luke said suddenly, “if you have a second, could you give me a hand with something really quick? Sorry, you can say no if you want, I guess that’s kinda weird since you just met me and you’re probably trying to get home. I’m just working on getting my truck running again and I don’t have enough hands for the job for this one thing.”

“Yeah, sure.” said Bodhi. He didn’t have anything better to do that afternoon anyway, so why not?

"Great!” Luke flashed him one of those dangerously bright smiles again. “Ok so I’m going to pop the hood and try something, and what I need you to do is sit in the driver’s seat and press down on the gas while I do that, alright?”

“Got it.” Bodhi replied.

Luke opened the door to the front seat of the truck for him and Bodhi climbed in. For such an old model, the interior was incredibly well-maintained, without any evidence of scuffs or scratches. A woodsy smell came from a tree-shaped air freshener hanging off the rear view mirror, and a small bobble head shaped like a green alien sat on the dashboard.

“Ok, you can rev it up whenever you're ready!” Luke shouted from behind the popped hood at the front of the vehicle.

Bodhi gave him a thumbs up out the window and pressed down on the gas pedal. The engine growled regularly for a few seconds before sputtering out and dying.

“Oh _blast it_!” Luke exclaimed, and despite the situation, Bodhi couldn't help but laugh to himself at the innocent way the other boy cursed.

“This is going to take ages to fix!” Luke lamented. He walked around to the driver’s side of the truck and opened the door. “It looks like I'm going to be working on this for a few more hours if I'm ever going to get this thing running again, so you probably want to take off now before I waste your entire afternoon.”

Bodhi caught himself thinking that there were many worse ways to spend his afternoon than watching a shirtless Luke do manual labor, but didn't voice this thought.

“Anyway, thanks for the help.” Luke continued.

"Well, I guess now you'll just owe me one.” Bodhi joked.

Luke smiled. “Yeah, don't let me forget it about it, ok?”

“Sure thing.” replied Bodhi.

"See you at school tomorrow, Bodhi.” said Luke.

“See you, Luke. Hope you're able to get your truck working before then.”

“Yeah, me too.” Luke laughed. "Thanks again!" 

Bodhi waved goodbye and walked to get in his own car. Luke picked up Artoo and held him in his arms to keep him from following along.

“Yes, Bodhi seems very nice Artoo, but you can't go home with him.” Bodhi heard Luke scolding the little dog. He smiled to himself as he pulled away, and if he looked back in the rear view mirror a few too many times as he drove off down the dirt road, at least no one was there to judge him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all enjoyed chapter 2 of this mess! 
> 
> Some quick notes: I know nothing about the Midwest, I know nothing about trucks, and I'm kinda winging this whole thing. If you see something that's just blatantly incorrect in this fic, or if I mess up and make an inconsistency, please let me know so I can fix it. There are already some things I'm thinking about editing in chapter one so future plot points will make more sense. 
> 
> With that being said, gotta love those sweaty boys! I'm going to keep trying to update this regularly, although my frequency of updating may or may not being directly correlated to comments and kudos that you all leave *hint hint*
> 
> Big thanks to the small but devoted roguejedi network on tumblr that gives me inspiration and motivation to write things like this! Love you all and hope you enjoy reading!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one where Bodhi loves the Mountain Goats

The next morning, it was Bodhi who was late, having overslept his alarm by a full thirty minutes. He hurried into Mrs. Mothma’s classroom right as she was taking attendance and quickly took his seat in the same place as the day before next to Cassian. Luke turned around in his seat in the front row and gave him a friendly smile.

“Did you get your truck working?” Bodhi mouthed across the room.

Luke shook his head miserably and Bodhi offered a sympathetic frown. 

The rest of Bodhi’s day passed by fairly uneventfully. Kylo and Hux seemed to have lost interest in harassing him, at least for that day. He didn’t have any more classes with Luke after first period, which he couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed about. At lunch, he sat at a table with Cassian, Jyn, and Kay, who he was growing to like more and more. Bodhi had thought Cassian seemed a little too serious of a guy at first, but was beginning to realize that he was just someone who was fiercely protective of his friends. In situations where he felt comfortable, such as the lunch table, he relaxed and became very warm and even funny. Jyn had also come across as somewhat standoffish to him the previous day, but after two days of eating lunch together and seeing that Cassian liked him, seemed to have now accepted him as one of her own. And Kay was...Kay.

“I heard you almost got yourself into a fight yesterday. That was stupid.” he had said as Bodhi sat down at the lunch table.

“Yeah… well it wasn’t exactly my fault.” Bodhi replied. He had only known Kay two days and had already learned not to be offended by the very blunt things the tall boy said. 

“It’s a good thing Luke was there to help you. From what I’ve heard, Skywalker finds you very interesting. In fact, he appears to be looking at you right now.”

Bodhi turned around to look at the table where Luke sat eating lunch with his friends. Sure enough, the blonde  _ was  _ looking in his direction. He held up his hand in a somewhat awkward half-wave that Bodhi returned before looking back to his own table of companions.

“What do you mean ‘from what you’ve heard’? Did he say something to you about me?” Bodhi asked Kay, trying not to sound too interested. 

Kay shrugged. “Ask Jyn. She’s the one who told me.”

He looked at Jyn curiously, who mimicked Kay’s shrug.

“I’m friends with his sister, Leia. She said Luke told her that you stopped by yesterday and that he thought you seemed interesting.” she said. 

“You stopped by his house? Why does no one ever tell me anything?” Kay complained. 

“That wasn’t ‘anything,’ I was just giving him his backpack back!” Bodhi replied, perhaps a little too defensively. 

Cassian turned towards Bodhi. “You’ll have to forgive Kay. He pretends not to care about gossip, but he secretly lives for it, and nothing juicy happens at this school very often.”

“I do not live for gossip. I just get bored.” Kay replied.

Cassian and Kay spent the rest of lunch talking about a chemistry project they were working on together while Jyn broke off pieces of bread from her sandwich bun that she rolled into small balls and flung into Bodhi’s hair. He pretended to be annoyed by this, but actually didn’t mind, figuring it was just her own weird way of showing affection. 

 

Bodhi was walking towards the parking lot to leave when he heard a voice call after him.

“Hey Bodhi!” He turned to see Luke sitting at a nearby picnic table

“Hey Luke, what’s up?” He said, walking over. 

“Oh, I’m just killing time until my ride is free.” he said.

“You didn’t bike here today?” Bodhi asked.

“Nah,” Luke replied, “I hitched a ride in Jyn’s car with Leia today— they usually carpool together. But they have soccer practice together this afternoon so I’m stuck here until that’s over. Most days Leia goes to Jyn’s house to hang out after school anyway, which is why I usually drive myself. My friend Wedge would have taken me home, but he had a shift at his job immediately after school, so he wouldn’t have time to drop me off. And the bus doesn’t drop off anywhere near my house. So I’m just hanging out here until Leia’s practice is over, probably going to try to get some homework done in the meantime.”

“Sorry to hear you didn’t have any luck fixing your truck, then.” said Bodhi.

“Yeah, me too.” replied Luke, “It’s not the first time it’s broken down on me though. Not having a way to drive to school is inconvenient, but I’ve gotta admit it’s pretty rewarding once I figure out the problem and get it working again. Hopefully I’ll still have a few hours left of sunlight to work on it some more once I get home this evening.”

The question was leaving Bodhi’s mouth before he even had time to consider it. “Do you want me to give you a ride home?” he blurted. 

“Just so you won’t be stuck up here with nothing to do and you can work on fixing your truck. And since I already know where your house is.” he added quickly. 

Luke beamed at him. “That’d be great! Thanks!”

“It’s no problem, your house is on my way home anyway.” Bodhi replied. 

They walked to where Bodhi was parked and Luke got into the passenger’s seat.

“I guess I owe you  _ two _ now, for today and yesterday.” he joked. 

Bodhi laughed as he pulled out of the parking lot. 

“Do you mind if I put on some music?” he asked Luke.

“Sure!” Luke said cheerfully. 

Bodhi reached into the CD sleeve attached to the visor on his driver’s side and pulled out a mix he had burned of his current favorite songs and inserted it into the CD player.

_ “I broke free on a Saturday morning, I put the pedal to the floor. Headed north on Mills Avenue and listened to the engine roar”  _ the music began to play from his speakers.

“Wow, what is this band? They sound so cool!” Luke was saying excitedly, speaking over the song by the end of the first chorus.

“They’re called the Mountain Goats. They’re one of my personal favorite bands actually. The lead guy, John, has lived just about everywhere in America and made music about it, so whenever I moved around to a new place, they always had a song about it I could listen to.” said Bodhi, trying to restrain himself from geeking out  _ too _ hard over his favorite band in front of Luke.

“That’s really cool! Where all have you lived?” asked Luke, looking genuinely interested. 

“This is the eighth place I’ve lived in nineteen years. Let me think… I was born in North Carolina, then moved to Florida, briefly in Germany when I was five, then Texas, then a  _ different  _ part of Texas, Arizona, Cincinnati, and now here.” said Bodhi. 

“Wow, that’s a lot. You’ve seen so many places…” Luke said, sounding slightly sad for some reason.

“Yeah, well my dad is in the Air Force, so he was always getting re-stationed at different places.”

“Where is he stationed near here? I didn’t know there was an Air Force base nearby.” said Luke.

“There isn’t.” Bodhi said, his face dropping a little. “My dad and my mom split up recently, and my mom moved the two of us here for a ‘fresh start’.” 

“Oh, I’m sorry,” said Luke, “I didn’t mean to-”

“No, it’s ok, really. I miss Cincinnati more than I miss him, if we’re being honest.” Bodhi said.

“Oh, this is one of my all time favorites!” he said, suddenly perking up as the next song began to play.

_ “The best ever death metal band out of denton were a couple of guys, who'd been friends since grade school.” _

As the song came to an end, Bodhi couldn’t resist from singing along loudly to the final chorus of  _ “Hail Satan’ _ s” that blasted from his speakers. Once the music ended, he glanced over to look at Luke, and struggled to keep from laughing at how scared the other boy looked.

He couldn’t fight it, he actually started laughing. “Don’t worry, I’m not actually a Satanist.” he managed through his laughter as Luke continued to eye him nervously.

“But I am Muslim, and I’m not sure how much of a difference there is between the two in the opinion of people around here.” he joked. 

Luke cracked a smile at that. 

“The lyrics aren’t really about worshipping Satan either,” Bodhi continued, “what they really mean is more of just a way of expressing rebellion from expectations. When they sing “Hail Satan!” it’s really more like they’re yelling “Fuck you!” at society for trying to push its expectations on young people and crushing their dreams.”

“Oh,” said Luke, smiling, “I actually like that a lot.”

Bodhi smiled back at him.

“So what’s the band called again? I want to look them up now.” Luke asked.

“The Mountain Goats. I actually have a lot of their albums on CD...I could lend some to you, if you want?” suggested Bodhi.

Luke beamed at him again. “I’d like that.”

They pulled up in front of Luke’s house halfway through the next song.

“Thanks again so much for giving me a ride home, Bodhi.” Luke said as he climbed out of the car.

“Yeah, it was really no problem.” replied Bodhi.

“See you in class tomorrow!” said Luke.

Bodhi paused for a minute as he watched Luke walk towards his front door, then leaned out of the window and called after him. “Hey, do you need me to give you a ride tomorrow?”

Luke turned and walked back to the driver’s side of the car.

“I’m hoping I can get my truck working tonight, but if not… would you? If that wouldn’t be too much of a problem?” he asked shyly.

“It’s no problem at all.” Bodhi assured, “Just let me give you my phone number so you can text me whether you need a ride or not.”

He pulled a napkin and pen out of his glove compartment and scribbled down his cell phone number and passed it to Luke out the window. 

“Ok, I’ll let you know.” said Luke, smiling. 

“Sounds good. Either way, see you tomorrow.” said Bodhi.

“See you Bodhi!” Luke said brightly.

 

For the second day in a row, Bodhi drove away from Luke Skywalker’s house, wondering what day three had in store for him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another installment in "I have no clue why I'm writing this or where this is going at all, but here you go."
> 
> Writing this fic got me thinking about Mountain Goats songs a lot, so I couldn't resist throwing that in there (Tbh I'll probably end up making a playlist for this fic that will be at least 70% The Mountain Goats. The two songs mentioned in this are "This Year" and "The Best Ever Death Metal Band In Denton")
> 
> I'm still working on figuring out where I want to take this next, because right now I just have a lot of general ideas and details but no real PLOT, so I'll work on that. 
> 
> Kudos, comments, and all feedback is ALWAYS appreciated! Thanks for reading!


End file.
